Shrimp and Chorizo Tortilla Soup

While tortilla soup seems to be on everyone’s mind for Cinco De Mayo, to me it’s an ideal harvest time soup. I love recipes that  easily incorporate the bits coming from the garden or some remains from Farmer’s Market finds, so it’s not surprising I would come up with this.  The soup marries the awesome combination of shrimp and chorizo with lots of fresh produce to create an easy, interesting, economical soup that’s a bit out of the ordinary. Economical because you don’t need a lot of the shrimp and chorizo, or in fact any one thing – but the flavor is all there, ready to warm you on a late-summer’s night. Or any time!

Ingredients for Shrimp and Chorizo Tortilla Soup (makes 7 cups – 3 to 4 servings)

• 2 cups tomato sauce
• 2 cups water
• 4 ounces raw shrimp, peeled and cut into bite sized pieces
• 3 oz. chorizo (spicy Spanish smoked sausage), thinly sliced
• 3 large scallions (green onions) thinly sliced
• 1 cup fresh tomato, chopped  (in season, I use the little super-sweets I grow)
• 1 ear of corn, kernels removed
• 1 medium carrot, peeled and thinly sliced
• 2 large cloves of garlic, peeled and minced
• 1 – 2 fresh chili peppers such as jalapeno or serrano. Remove seeds for milder flavor
• 1/8 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
• 1 1/2 teaspoons fresh oregano, finely chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds, ground with mortar and pestle  (can substitute with 1 teaspoon powdered)
• 1 bay leaf
• Freshly grated black pepper to taste

Garnishes for Shrimp and Chorizo Tortilla Soup  (vary according to taste)

Tortilla chips

Grated cheddar cheese

Sour cream

Diced avocado

Chopped cilantro

Wedges of fresh lime

Directions for how to make Shrimp and Chorizo Tortilla Soup:

Husk the ear of corn and remove the kernels. I find the easiest way to do this is to cut the ear in half (or break in half  if you don’t have a sharp knife) and holding the cut end firmly on the cutting board, slice down the side with a chef’s knife. Four or five cuts down each half-ear should be enough to remove the kernels.

To a large soup pot, add the tomato sauce, water, prepared corn and carrots, garlic, chili pepper(s), oregano, cumin, several grinds of freshly ground black pepper and the bay leaf. Bring to a low boil over medium high heat, reduce to a simmer and cook for 15 minutes.

Add the chopped tomato, scallion and cilantro and continue to cook at a simmer for another 15 minutes.

Remove the bay leaf, add the shrimp and chorizo, stir and turn the heat off!  The residual heat in the pot will be ample to cook the shrimp and heat the chorizo without overcooking either. After about ten minutes, the soup will be ready to serve and garnish.

You may have noticed that my recipe does not call for any added salt. I find that the salt already in the tomato sauce, chorizo, chips, and the natural brininess of the shrimp is quite enough.  There is so much flavor going on here, any more salt seems unnecessary to me – but add some if you’d like.

How to assemble the Tortilla Soup:

Place some tortilla chip strips in the bottom of the bowl.  I love blue corn tortilla strips, but you can use your favorite, or make your own.

Ladle the soup into bowls, and while it is great as-is…garnishing is a lot of fun! When the garnishes are placed family-style on the table, everyone can add what they like, as they like it. While I love more chips on top, cheese and avocado especially (I load it up, truly I do) others appreciate some cooling sour cream, more cilantro, a generous squirt of lime and even more chopped chilies if they like it extra spicy. AHH – there’s just nothing like custom soup!